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ARE YOU SORRY YOU CAME 
TO THIS COUNTRY? 

AN ADDRESS 

To CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES 

OF GERMAN BIRTH OR ANCESTRY. 

By Ct J. Ernst 



Published and Distributed by the Nebraska State 

Council of Defense. 

1917. 



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INTRODUCTION 

' Mr. Ernst was born in the province of Silesia, Prussia, 
in 1854, and graduated from the ''Buergerschule," now 
called ^^Mittelschule," in the City of Goerlitz, in April 
1868. With his father, mother and one younger sister he 
landed at Castle Garden in May, 1868, and at Nebraska City 
May 23, 1868. For further details see J. Sterling Morton 
History of Nebraska, Vol. 2, page 643. 

In February, 1917, Mr. Ernst was urged to address a 
large gathering of ''new citizens" and ''citizens-to-be", all 
told about 400 or more, on "Naturalization* Night," at the 
Omaha Commercial Club rooms. He had never before at- 
tempted such a thing and for that reason was very reluctant 
to agree to it. However, his address received such rapt 
attention from his audience, and created such enthusiasm, 
that it was at once published in full by the "Omaha Ne- 
braskan" (issue of Feb. 15, 1917) under the title "The 
Story of an Emigrant Boy," and after that the Commercial 
Club of Omaha had a large number printed, in booklet form, 
for general distribution. Later on, the Nebraska City 
Patriotic Committee urged Mr. Ernst to be one of the speak- 
ers at a great patriotic meeting held May 11, 1917, with 
which invitation he complied because Nebraska City was 
his first place of residence in the United States, from 1868 
to 1876. Again, when the Nebraska State Council of De- 
fense decided to have a great public gathering at Columbus, 
Nebraska, on July 1, 1917, lit urged Mr. Ernst to be one of 
the speakers on that occasion. While the three addresses, 
each to a differently constituted audience, varied consider- 
ably, the same fundamental purpose, ideas and arguments, 
were contained in all. Mr. Ernst's Columbus address was 
printed in full in the "Omaha Nebraskan," of July 5, 1917, 
and in the "Kearney Hub" of July 12, 1917. Since then 

■^ Of D. 
AUG 17 1917 



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many requests for copies have been received by the State 
Council of Defense which could not possibly be supplied., 
no extra copies of these papers having been printed, so that 
the supply was soon exhausted. 

For that reason Mr. Ernst's Columbus address, very 
slightly revised by him, is now printed in this booklet form 
for the purpose of general distribution. 

Mr. Ernst is the Assistant Treasurer of the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, for its lines west 
of the Missouri River, at Omaha, and has been in the service 
of that company for more than 41 years. Although never 
an active politician and never elected to public office by his 
own initiative or seeking, he was nominated a non-partisan 
candidate for member of the schoolboard at Lincoln, Ne- 
braska, about 25 years ago, endorsed by both the Repubhcan 
and Democratic conventions, serving one term of three 
years, declining to be a candidate for a second term. Some 
years afterwards, again without any suggestion or solici- 
tation originating with him, he was elected a member of the 
board of regents of our State University, serving one term 
of six years, two years as president, but declining to be a 
candidate for a second term. Likewise, in 1914, the ^'Citi- 
zens Committee" of Omaha insisted on his standing for 
election as a member of the Omaha schoolboard, arid he is 
now serving his third consecutive term as president of that 
board. The year 1917 therefore will complete 12 years of 
absolutely gratuitous public service rendered by him to his 
fellow citizens. 



MR. ERNST'S COLUMBUS 
ADDRESS 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Fellow Citizencs: 

As I look over this splendid audience I fail to notice the 
presence of any native Americans. If there are any such 
present I am unable to identify them from this platform. 
The only native American is the American Indian. It is 
even doubted whether he, too, did not originally come from 
elsewhere, since archaeologists find many proofs of the exis- 
tence of a prehistoric people, right here in our State of 
Nebraska, of an apparently different type from the American 
Indian, with whose present existence and history of recent 
centuries we are very well acquainted. Of the more than 
one hundred million inhabitants of our country only ap- 
proximately 300,000 are true natives, i. e. American Indians. 
All the balance of us are foreigners, either by birth or an- 
cestry, it matters not whether one's ancestors came over 
with Columbus, or crossed on the Mayflower, or Avhether 
you or I were born in some other country and came here as 
immigrants. I myself was born a subject of the king of 
Prussia. Therefore I am addressing you, foreigners of recent 
or remote degree, from the viewpoint of an American 
citizen of German birth, who received all of his school 
education in Germany. 

Even the people in my native land came there, it is true 
a long time ago, from the East, emigrating as we have ever 
since been doing, toward the West, taking possession of the 
land which pleased them, just as the Children of Israel took 
possession of Palestine and claimed it, by possession, for their 
future home. Just as the Children of Israel in the desert 
erred for a short time by sighing for the fleshpots of Egypt, 
where they had long been held in bondage, so possibly some 
few of our foreign-born population in this country, have 
within recent years, had similar delusions or dreams about 
returning to their native land to live the balance of their 

4 



lives in ease and comfort, upon the wealth accumulated by 
them since they came to this country as foreign immigrants 
with very limited means, or none at all. 

This country of ours, the United States of America, is 
made up of people from every country on earth, with Euro- 
peans very greatly in the majority. Great Britain supplied 
a large share of the population of the original thirteen colonies, 
although France and Holland were likewise well represented, 
and former English subjects fought their mother country 
in the Revolutionary war under the leadership of George 
Washington, an Englishman by ancestry, Germany, Hol- 
land, France, the three Scandinavian countries, Austria, and 
to some extent Russia, have all furnished large numbers of 
the very best of young and middle aged men and women, to 
rapidly swell the population and advance the material de- 
velopment of this new and undeveloped empire (without an 
emperor) of America. During the last decade or two Italy, 
Greece and other southern and southeastern countries of 
Europe have sent us hundreds of thousands of sturdy 
workmen, as laborers for our railroads and other important 
public and private enterprises. Here we all breathe the same 
air, eat the same food, work side by side, live in the same 
towns, and often in the very next adjoining house, no matter 
how separated we were geographically, politically, socially, 
or otherwise, on the other side of the Atlantic, but we never 
yet had a European race war as residents, neighbors, and 
fellow citizens of these United States. In my own city of 
Omaha we have people from every race and speaking every 
tongue of Europe. At least sixteen or seventeen modern 
European languages are spoken and known to be represented 
by the citizenship of Greater Omaha. Within a block or 
two of my own residence I know personally people who them- 
selves, not their ancestors, came from practically every one 
of the greater nations of Europe now engaged in war. We 
have no quarrels, we do not ignore or despise each other 



because of our having been born in different countries which 
are now at war. We speak to each other, we greet each other, 
since the war as before, as neighbors and acquaintances and 
fellow citizens of this,- the greatest and all-around best 
country on earth. 

Why did you or I, or our fathers or mothers, or our an- 
cestors farther removed, leave those various lands of our or 
their nativity, and emigrate to America? Why did they, or 
you, or I, renounce further allegiance to the respective 
foreign potentate and swear all future allegiance to the Stars 
and Stripes? There must be a reason for it, and it must be 
a good, strong, generally and thoroughly recognized reason, 
since millions upon millions have taken that same solemn 
oath, 'to which my own father swore, without the least 
equivocation, mental reservation or secret evasion whatso- 
ever, at Nebraska City, in 1868, and again in 1873, when he 
received his final papers. 

Did you, my fellow citizens, who were born abroad, mean 
exactly what you swore to? I am sure you did. Were your 
ancestors, niy American-born fellow-citizens, serious and 
honest in their intentions and declarations of the same kind? 
I am sure of it. 

Again, I ask one and all of foreign birth here present, why 
did you or I, or anyone else, ever leave his native European 
land and cross the great and sometimes dangerous Atlantic, 
to become a citizen of the United States of America? Was 
it not because we beheved this to be THE LAND OF 
GREATER AND MORE NEARLY EQUAL OPPORTUN- 
ITIES? Was it not from a desire to greatly improve our 
conditions? Was it not in the hope and expectation of 
better prospects, greater political, religious and social 
liberty and equality, that immigration from all countries 
of Europe now at war has been coming in a great and quite 
steady stream, even before, and ever since, the Declaration 

6 



of Independence was signed by the founders of our govern- 
ment. 

How many of you, of foreign birth hke myself, could 
possibly have enjoyed all of the temporal blessings and 
prosperity you have found here, if you had remained in 
your native land? Ask yourself that question, ask and 
answer it, honestly and sincerely, to your own conscience; 
you need not answer it to me, you prosperous business men, 
you well-to-do farmers, of Nebraska, or of any other place 
under these Stars and Stripes. Are you sorry that you came 
to this country, or that your fathers or mothers, or farther 
removed ancestors, came to this country? If there is any 
man or woman within the hearing of my voice who sincerely 
believes that he or she would prefer to ^^trade back," and 
return, to again become a citizen under any European 
government, no matter which one, let him or her, as soon as 
this awful war is ended, secure a United States passport, 
which is good for two years, then go to your choice of places 
in Europe, and try it out thoroughly, study conditions care- 
fully, honestly, intelligently, on the ground, not at long 
range, or from a hazy distance, and I predict that every one 
who tries that will return, within a year at most, a far better, 
more enthusiastic and loyal citizen of the United States. 
Remember, I am not speaking of those, with large means, 
who go to Europe merely for pleasure, be it for a few months, 
or several years, prepared to spend money freely and liber- 
ally. People of that sort can amuse themselves and have 
much pleasure and comfort almost anywhere on earth 
nowadays. 

In European countries there are classes or caste distinc- 
tions in bewildering numbers and variations. A member of 
the nobility will hesitate to associate closely with those who 
hold no such titles. A high military officer will associate 
only insofar as he cannot avoid it with those of lesser rank. 
Bankers are, socially, in a group by themselves and do not 



mix to any extent with the manufacturers. The manu- 
facturer is in a class by himself and will not mix very much, 
except in a strict business way, with the wholesale merchant. 
The wholesale merchant keeps away, except as his business 
may require, from the retailer, and the retailer considers 
himself above the small farmer, and the farmer above the 
laborer. These examples, as you know, could be multiplied 
in many directions. There is an ever, and everywhere 
present, caste distinction in these European countries, which 
does not exist in this country. It is true we sometimes and 
in some places seem to be .drifting toward such coliditions, 
but, in the final analysis, that is true with us, after all, only 
to a very limited extent. 

The possession of much money has perhaps created some- 
what of a money aristocracy in this country, and so-called 
' 'society" people may draw lines as to whom they will recog- 
nize in social affairs or at their homes or clubs, but after all 
that is nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to the caste 
distinctions made in our native lands across the sea. 

In business matters in this country, social divisions 
disappear almost entirely . I am personally acquainted with 
the president of one of the biggest railroad companies in the 
United States who started in railroad work as a section 
laborer. In due course of time he became a fireman, later 
a locdmotive engineer, and his wonderful ability continued 
to promote him until today he is one of the most prominent 
railroad presidents in the United States. 

I know personally another railroad president whose com- 
pany operates almost ten thousand miles of railroad, who, 
but a few years ago, was a young law student, then entered 
the office of a prominent law firm, was soon discovered to 
have a splendid head on him, was taken from that office to 
the general law offices of a certain railroad company, and 
in a comparatively few years became and is now the presi- 

8 



dent of that company, recognized as one of the ablest and 
leading railroad presidents in the United States. 

Among the great pubhc servants of the United States 
you need only study the life of Abraham Lincoln to under- 
stand what I am trying to impress upon you. H<e was not 
a foreign immigrant, but he was a poor boy whose oppor- 
tunities of learning at school were quite limited. 

Carl Schurz was once a foreign immigrant, leaving his 
native land because of disagreement with then existing 
political conditions, and in due course of time he became 
one of the truly big men in the public life of these United 
States. 

There are thousands of such examples, where not only the 
poorest and plainest of American-born citizens have become 
leaders in their locality, if not in the nation, but there are 
also other thousands of examples where poor- immigrants 
from Europe with live brains, good hearts and plenty of 
energy have been exceedingly successful, and have been 
greatly respected and honored in business and in public life 
by their American-born acquaintances, associates and fellow 
citizens. 

This country, however, has no room for those 
who accept the privileges and enjoy the advan- 
tages of citizenship but are at the same time un- 
willing to accept its duties and responsibilities. No 
man can serve two masters, and therefore he can- 
not be half American and half something else, be 
it Pro-German, or pro-anything else except Pro- 
United States, and especially at this time, unless 
he belies the oath he took when he swore allegi- 
ance to the Stars and Stripes. 



And when your country, thie constitution of which you 
have sworn to defend, is at war, no matter if it unfortunately 
happens to be with the very country which gave you birth, 
it is your duty, and my duty, and the duty of every citizen 
without any exception whatsoever, to stand up for your coun- 
try, the country that has prospered and protected you and 
now needs your utmost loyalty, and it is impossible for you 
or me, as individual citizens, to know exactly what is going 
on behind the scenes, or to know exactly what is necessary 
in order that peace may be restored at the earliest possible 
date and under the most proper conditions to insure the 
greatest lasting good and the blessing of liberty and pursuit 
of happiness to the peoples of the world, to establish liberty 
and democracy and equality among men and nations on a 
more firm and general basis, and to overthrow autocracy and 
that dreadful war spirit which has destroyed millions of 
lives and made millions of cripples, widows and orphans 
within the -brief period of the last three years. Do not let 
us assume, any of us, that we, individually, know more and 
better how this government of ours shall be conducted under 
such awful and trying conditions, than those appointed, or 
elected by us, to manage these matters for us. 

Before a state of war with Germany was officially de- 
clared it may have been, and to a reasonable and decent 
extent was, perfectly proper for us to argue our differing 
opinions on that important and most serious subject, but 
that period of freedom of expression concerning approval or 
criticism of our own government ended suddenly, emphatical- 
ly and wholly when we were officially declared in a state of 
war with Germany. 

When our country is at war, no matter with whom, every 
one of us belongs and can only belong to one of two classes. 
WE ARE TODAY EITHER LOYAL CITIZENS OF 
THIS OUR NATIVE OR ADOPTED LAND, OR ELSE 



10 



WE ARE TRAITORS. The neutral or ^^half-baked" 
citizen, in time of war, is an impossible conception. 

My father came to this country, not because he was a 
pauper laborer of Europe, as many immigrants have been 
most unfairly designated, but because he was then, fifty 
years ago, opposed to Prussian militarism and autocracy, 
just as I am opposed to it today. The German race has been 
a liberty loving and liberty seeking race for centuries, its 
greatest poets have written beautiful lines about liberty, 
but it will never attain to true liberty and equal rights for 
its people until its present form of government, the most 
militaristic and autocratic existing in Europe today, has been 
so changed and amended as to eliminate these features in 
their most objectionable forms and extent, and substitute 
for them a constitutionally much limited monarchy, giving 
every citizen an universal equal and secret ballot, maintaining 
an army only to the extent of a national police force and for 
the discipline and physical development of its young men, 
not at such enormous expense and as a menace to the peace 
of the world. The present extreme militarism and autocracy 
of Germany must be overthrown and a government of the 
people by the people and for the people established in its 
place; whether its chief head be called king, emperor, or 
president is not the most important detail. Genuine equality 
and democracy is the main issue and the future peace of the 
world must be the outcome of this horrible butchery or it 
will all have been in vain. Do not, however, expect it to 
happen by revolution as in Russia, or you will be disap- 
pointed. Germany must and will reorganize itself, after 
the eyes of its people, largely blinded by its present official- 
dom and military machine, will be opened to a clearer vision 
of themselves and their correct relations to the rest of the 
world. And we, as American citizens of German birth or 
ancestry, must not be political sympathizers of the Kaiser 
and his autocratic military machine and regime. Is it not 



11 



a fact that a great many of us, or our ancestors, came to 
this country primarily for the very purpose of getting away 
from those conditions? How inconsistent for any of us 
to now support what we once condemned or detested! If 
we would help our friends or relatives in yonder beautiful 
spot of earth called Germany we can do it better by support- 
ing our own United States Government than by hindering 
or opposing its purposes in the present war, by word or deed, 
for those purposes, if successful, as they must and will be, 
will sooner or later accrue to the great and lasting good of 
Germany, the German people and the rest of the world. 



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